The Roberts in Korea

Thanksgiving

The American holiday of Thanksgiving is experienced a bit differently here in South Korea.  Even though our international school model and calendar is based upon a model that would commonly be found in the United States, our school is located in the country of South Korea and the students and staff that make up the TCIS community are from places all over the world.  The Canadian Thanksgiving holiday took place in October and in South Korea there is no equivalent to Thanksgiving.

While working in the public schools in the United States we enjoyed a two and half day break over the Thanksgiving Holiday whereas here at our international school we had a half day off on the Friday following Thanksgiving day.  We had school and worked, as usual, on the Thursday that is Thanksgiving as we know it.  In fact, were were eating dinner with some friends at a little Korean diner on the Thursday night of Thanksgiving and only then realized that it was Thanksgiving Day.  We had to chuckle a bit about our "Thanksgiving Dinner" that included Korean Kimchi, Ramien and Kimbap.

On Friday night TCIS provided an all school Thanksgiving Dinner and celebration.  The meal was delicious, complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. It was a fun time to gather with friends in the TCIS community.  It actually "felt" like Thanksgiving and now the Holiday season has begun.  It is time to pull out the Christmas tree and the Christmas music and videos.  I wish we could pull out the egg nog, but they don't sell it here in South Korea.  Bummer...oh well, we are still very thankful.

Soon To Be Kimchi

Fall is upon us here in South Korea.  The first frost of the year brings out the coats, gloves and the humongous piles of Kimchi cabbage in our neighborhood.  It is amazing to see giant piles of cabbage, beets and other vegetables that are used in Kimchi preparation piled outside many of the shops and homes near our house.  Every Fall in Korea the families celebrate what is called "Kimjang Day."  At this time of the year families work together to prepare between 100 and 200 cabbages--making them into Kimchi to last them through the winter months.  The task usually lasts all day for 2-3 days.

Early one morning I (Ryan) saw this lady and her husband tackling this giant pile of cabbage.  In the preparation process they cut these giant heads of cabbage into quarters and then soaked them in 33 gallon plastic garbage cans of salt brine.  They soaked them awhile and then use the process to clean the cabbage of all bugs, dirt, etc.  From this point the cabbage is rubbed down with ground red peppers, salt and other seasonings and then it is packed away in underground canisters and in special refrigerators for fermentation.  Twelve hours later in the day I walked by the same lady and her husband and they were still chipping away at their huge pile of cabbage. They own a Kimchi shop.  I have bought Kimchi from them before--it is delicious.

Kimchi is a staple food here in South Korea.  It is interesting that I only see elderly people working diligently on the Kimchi making process.  I am sure that there is an art to Kimchi making--and it is a lot of work.  I hope that it is not an art that will be lost in the midst of this rapidly developing consumer culture here in South Korea.

Groundbreaking Ceremony

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, TCIS broke ground on a new campus site located in the Techno Valley area of the city of Daejeon.  It was an historic event in the fifty-one year history of the school.

The crowd at the groundbreaking event included the six hundred plus students of the school, the two hundred staff members of the school and another two hundred parents, guests and VIPs from the city and the country.

The ceremony started off with special music by the TCIS high school band directed by David Miller.  The program included short speeches by numerous city and national officials as well as messages from the TCIS Headmaster, the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and the high school student body co-presidents.  I (Ryan) enjoyed the privilege of leading the opening prayer at the event.

It was a grand time and the initial realization of a 20 year old vision that the previous Headmaster of the school had for the school's growth and development.  The ground breaking included gold shovels, confetti, fireworks and celebration.

Bball Has Begun

The basketball season began with the first game of the season on Wednesday night.  It was an away game against Yongsan International School of Seoul (YISS).  Becca is playing on the girls' varsity basketball team.  The team looks great this year.

Becca scored the first two points of the season (2 free throws) for her team and she ended up scoring 6 points in the first game.  The TCIS girls are 1-0 with a win against YISS--the final score was 26-24.  Yes, that is David Miller you see in the picture--he is the assistant coach of the girls' team.

Basketball has begun and we are looking forward to a fun season.

NNU Visitors

On Tuesday night we had some visitors from NNU!  Of course NNU stands for Northwest Nazarene University.  There are currently ten alumni from NNU working at TCIS.  This week two professors from NNU were in the area and dropped by to give us all a visit.

Dr. Eric Kellerer and Dr. Ron Galloway stayed the night in Daejeon and took all of the NNU alumni and the TCIS Headmaster and his wife out to dinner.  It was a grand time.

In the picture are:  Ron Galloway, George Zickefoose, Thomas Penland, Shirley Penland, Heidi, Zickefoose, Eric Kellerer, David Miller, Laurie Miller, Landon Loeber, Brenna Loeber, Dina Roberts and Ryan Roberts.

We love to have visitors.  Come visit us!

Look Around

There is so much to see...if you just look.  One of the advantages of living in the digital age is the ability to have a digital camera in hand and to take pictures of the great things that catch your eye. 

Great pictures and memorable moments are not reserved for only vacations.  These days I am trying to see the remarkable and the memorable in my every day life.  The other day at the train station, the work yard filled with railroad ties and a couple of workers caught my eye.

That same day on the train this little guy wouldn't stop staring at me so I just started taking pictures of him.  I think he liked it.

Finally, fall is here in South Korea.  I don't ever want to miss out on enjoying the beautiful leaves of fall.  There is so much to see.  Look around.

"Pudding"

The other evening we had the distinct privilege of attending the TCIS Drama Production of "The Matchmaker."  The show was directed by our friend Heidi Zickefoose and featured many of Becca's and Sarah's friends.  One of the main roles in the play featured our very special friend, Brittney Miller.  She did a fantastic job in the play.

The play was an amazing presentation as the students played their parts so well.  I literally left the production stunned at how wonderfully the students presented the play.

At one point in the play two young men speak of how they want to experience some "adventure" in life.  One of the boys can't conceive of what adventure is so he asks his friend to use a code word when they are experiencing adventure.  The code word is "pudding."  It is cute.

Brittney Miller had a primary role in the production and played her part perfectly.  She has had her fair share of "pudding" these last two years as she has moved to South Korea to complete her junior and senior years of high school.  She has done so well--making many friends, being a spiritual leader on the campus, participating in the school plays and musicals and hanging out with the Roberts family.  We are proud of her.

Pudding!

A Little Slice of Heaven

Korea is a place of change.  This is particularly true in the case of shops, businesses and restaurants.  Just about the time that you start to like a restaurant or begin to regularly visit a shop or convenience store...it closes and literally disappears.  If you find something good you had better enjoy it as long as it lasts because it is not uncommon to eat at a restaurant one night and find the place empty, dark and gutted the next night.  When the lease expires or the monthly bill isn't paid...its over.

This is a real bummer when you find your favorite restaurant has been replaced by a bar or you find that Baskin Robbins Ice Cream has been replaced by a fish market, but sometimes it turns out good. 

Recently, a new restaurant "appeared" just outside the front gate of the school.  It is called, Kimbap Chungook which means, "Kimbap Heaven."  I (Ryan) like to try new places, so I gave it a look.  It turned out to be a good find.  They serve up some of the best fried rice around (second only to my friend, Jaeyoung's).  Plus they have many other good foods at a good price.  I have coaxed my family and some friends into the place and it has become a regular place that we eat during the week.

The other evening Dina was busy and Becca was at practice so Sarah and I slipped away and had dinner together at Kimbap Heaven.  It really was heaven because I got to hang out with Sarah.  We took some pictures with the timer on my camera.  We enjoyed some good food and savored the moments together...

As long as they last.

An Event

Today I (Ryan) had an enjoyable and unique experience.  I attended the Daedeok Techno Valley dedication ceremony as a "VIP."  It was quite an event.  The Daedeok Techno Valley is a new economic development area in the great city of Daejeon.  It is projected to be a major R & D center for all of Northeast Asia.  Our new school building site is located in this Daedeok Techno Valley portion of the city.  In fact, our school (TCIS) will be having a ground breaking ceremony at the new school site in two weeks, on November 19.

Because of the prominence of Taejon Christian International School in the city of Daejeon and because our school is relocating out to the Daedeok Techno Valley portion of the city our Headmaster was invited to attend the event as a VIP.  However, our Headmaster is currently out of country so I, as the Assistant Headmaster at the school, had the privilege to represent our school at this event.

As far as I could tell I was the only Westerner in the crowd.  There were many city dignitaries at the event.  I even got to shake the hand of the Mayor of the City of Daejeon.  There was a lot of talking at the event and there were many instructions given to the VIPs regarding what we were to do, where we were to sit and what we could expect in the program.  The problem is...I don't speak Korean and the TCIS Business Administrator, who I went to the event with and who is Korean, couldn't go with me into the VIP section because...well...he wasn't a VIP.

I was nervous that I was going to be the VIP that did the wrong thing.  I tried to follow along and blend into the crowd... but that didn't work.  We finally made our entrance to the front of the stage with much pomp and circumstance and thankfully I spotted a seat that was tagged with English and it said my name!

I was just beginning to settle in and breathe again when the announcer began to say things and then one of the VIPs that I was with would stand up and take a bow.  I began to get nervous and I began listening very carefully to the announcer.  Thankfully I discerned the words, "Kookjay hakio Lion Lobertsa" and I stood up and took a bow and everyone clapped.  Whew!

Later in the program they wheeled a long table onto the stage that had about twenty large red "Family Feud" like buttons on it.  They looked like large panic buttons and as the other VIPs began standing and walking to the stage I started to panic.  I stood up and followed the crowd and thankfully I spotted my name next to one of the big red panic buttons.  All of us VIPs lined up at the table and a young Korean woman very nicely handed each of us a pair of white gloves.

We all put on our gloves and suddenly the announcer began a countdown in English!  3...2...1... and all of the VIPs pushed their red buttons.  (I pushed mine a little late because I was unsure and was watching the guy next to me.)  The air was filled with colored smoke, booms, blasts and lot of confetti.  It was quite a sight and if it all was a mistake-- it wasn't my fault (because they all pushed their buttons first).

Seriously though, the Daedeok Techno Valley dedication ceremony was a very impressive event that I was privileged to take part in.  I came away from that event feeling very thankful to be in South Korea.

(P.s. I tried to play the VIP card at home and Dina and the girls wouldn't buy it.)

KAIAC Volleyball Tournament

Last weekend we spent a lot of time on the train and in Seoul.  We were watching Becca and the girls' (and boys') volleyball teams play in the district tournament called the KAIAC tournament.  KAIAC is the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference.

Yes, Becca played in the tournament.  After lots of elevation, ice, heat, acupuncture, some time on crutches and with the help of some heavy duty ankle braces, she was able to play in the tournament.  She did a great job for being out of it for two weeks and for having a less than 100% ankle.  During the tournament awards ceremony Becca received an all conference player medal.  She played great in the tournament and throughout the season.

The girls' team had a fantastic season.  Last year they finished fifth in the league and fifth in the tournament.  This year they finished third in the league and third in the tournament.  In addition to a strong third place finish, the TCIS team was awarded the Sportsmanship award by the league coaches and the TCIS coach was given the Coach of the Year award.

The tournament was a grand time and a great event to say the least.  We are proud of Becca and have enjoyed watching her play volleyball this year.

Basketball tryouts start today...